1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally related to portable, interactive communications systems and, in particular, to a portable interactive display tablet that permits immediate area interactive access to and the use of a computer system that may, in turn, be coupled to local area and wide area networks in support of communications and other application programs.
2. Description of the Related Art
During the past few years, there has been a substantial interest in developing a new class of personal computers that can provide a low cost option for accessing remote network connected computer systems. Interest in this kind of network computer (NC), also variously referred to as a thin client, has been most recently driven by the substantial growth of Internet accessible resources including, in particular, the World Wide Web (WWW, W3 or the "Web"). The existing descriptions for the NC, only a few of which have appeared in prototype form, describe a so-called set-top box that is connected to a home television type monitor. A cabled or possibly infrared transmitter based keyboard device connected to the NC provides both pointing and alpha-numeric inputs to the NC. With the television monitor acting as the video output device, the NC itself is required only to implement a presumed minimum of functions including a thin network protocol, a network interface, a video display interface, an input interface and just sufficient computational and memory resources to minimally support operation of at least a dedicated Web browser application. A few other output interfaces may also be provided to allow connection to other output devices such as printers and speakers.
Thus, the known existing designs for NCs utilize a basic computer architecture that is not significantly different from that of conventional personal computers that are meant to be replaced by NCs. However, the significant market forces of low cost and web enabled functionality are generally believed to greatly favor the NCs. Indeed, by leveraging the cost of an output display by the use of a pre-existing conventional television, the NC obviates the nominally most expensive single cost item of a personal computer: a conventional large screen computer monitor.
A simple, basic operating system dedicated to supporting execution of dedicated Web browser type application, potentially extended to support game programs, and other modest programs on the NC, reduces the expected complexity of use while maintaining a low cost. As an additional simplicity factor, the operating system is placed largely if not entirely in some form of non-volatile memory within the NC.
The reduction in user apparent complexity comes at the price of the NC being incapable of performing meaningfully without extensive network connected support. The only known alternative that would allow any significant local function would be to expand the embedded operating system to include generalized application program interfaces (APIs) to support existing and future developed applications. The computational and memory resources of the NC would also need to be greatly expanded to adequately execute such applications. Furthermore, advanced operating system features such as multi-tasking would need to be supported by the NC if only to maintain reasonable parity with the basic functionality of current day personal computers. Consequently, the NC and embedded operating systems would need to maintain most of the significant features and characteristics of a full fledged personal computer and operating system to support the local execution of personal computer compatible applications.
Unfortunately, the execution performance and memory resources of the NC are intentionally quite limited as part of the basic NC design principles and goals. NCs have been proposed in a cost range of approximately $500 to $1,000 per NC. At this price point, the industry apparently believes that the limited local, network restricted performance and functionality presented by an NC will not be a bar to wide acceptance at least as a consumer home electronics product.
There are, however, substantial disadvantages to utilizing NCs of the above conventional definition. First, utilization of an existing television as the output display directly compromises the use of the television for any other purpose while being used with the NC. Since the exploration of the Web tends to be more of a solitary activity, the utilization of a family television will significantly detract from the ordinary family use of the television. The alternative of purchasing an extra television for use as the output display device separate from the family television largely defeats the low cost price point that the industry considers essential for obtaining wide adoption and use of NCs.
An alternative is to leverage the use of multiple existing televisions for use with the NC. However, as currently proposed, either a separate NC would be required for each television that is to be utilized as an output device or an NC would have to be carried and manually connected to an available television; televisions are as a practical matter immobile. Furthermore, each individual NC would be effectively tied to a respective television output device and thereby rendered essentially immobile at least during use. Utilization of an NC would be precluded by definition in any room where either a television is not present or cannot be connected to an NC. In the conventional home, there are many such rooms and other spaces where use of an NC might prove quite desirable. Consequently, the proposed designs for NCs are in fact quite restrictive on the manner and location of using an NC even if only as a consumer home electronics entertainment device. Whether the conventional NC design will become a standard form of consumer electronics used to access Internet resources has yet to be seen.
There are a number of other, if not low cost then highly functional, computer systems that can be utilized to access Internet resources from the home. Besides the conventional home personal computers and notebook computers, there exists a number of different personal digital assistants (PDAs) that can be utilized to execute applications for accessing Web resources. The Apple Newton.TM. and Motorola Envoy.TM. are examples of two well known PDA designs. Both may include a flat panel touch screen that functions as both an input and output device, an embedded proprietary operating system, and a fairly high performance CPU provided with a relatively large program execution and display data memory spaces to support execution of significantly complex if not multiple independent applications. In addition, these PDAs can also incorporate a cellular telephone interface that maybe utilized to establish an Internet connection. In some cases, the cellular telephone is integrated within the PDA.
As might be expected by the functionality provided by conventional PDAs, the cost of PDAs, even discounted as consumer electronics, is well over a thousand dollars if not several thousand dollars in cost per unit. Although PDAs capable of establishing an Internet connection have existed for some time, such PDAs have not been generally accepted as either a business or a consumer home electronics product in general let alone for use in accessing the Internet.
Other, typically proprietary handheld devices exist for use most often in the field collection of data. A handheld device dedicated for use in warehouse inventory applications may typically include a bar code scanner, alpha-numeric keyboard, and a small LED or LCD display suitable for presenting prompting messages and status codes to the user. A proprietary protocol is sometimes utilized over a short haul radio transceiver link between the handheld device and a base transceiver connected to the inventory management main computer system.
Because of the quite dedicated and thereby limited functionality inherent in the special purpose if not function dedicated nature of handheld devices, these devices are considered solely as commercial products to be utilized selectively with proprietary computer systems and specialized applications. There is presently no generally known business or consumer utilization of such handheld devices of any significance outside of their use in dedicated applications. Furthermore, the highly limited display size that is typical on these handheld devices intrinsicly makes them unsuited for use in accessing the very graphics oriented Internet resources such as the Web.
Consequently, there is a present and future need for a computer access device capable of being targeted as a consumer electronics product that enables access to Internet related resources including the Web at low cost without compromise of performance.